Oatmeal compositions have been known for a long period of time. More recently, oatmeal food products have become available in prepackaged forms. Usually these products are in a dry form which need water for cooking. Packaging of oatmeal in water-containing form so that nothing need be added before consumer preparation has not been used due to the adverse effects such processing has on the flavor and texture of the resulting oatmeal product. Packaging oatmeal preparations with water can result in the final product in oat particles that have degraded to a form of thick paste which lacks texture.
It would be desirable to have a complete oatmeal food product that could be prepared without the addition of water or other ingredients, and which may be stored in prepackaged form for long periods of time.